Inception is one of those movies that leaves you thinking. But that is a description that falls in many ways…

When we went to see inception, two of the other three people that joined us were seeing it for the second time. Reading forum topics about Inception, this is not a uncommon situation (people watching it 2-3-4 times to try to make sense of it…)

Truth is Christopher Nolan got us all talking. Even film music fans (I count myself among them) are talking about how the score plays subliminally with slowed-down versions of Edith Piaf songs!

The movie’s “true” meaning (something that Nolan may never give up… even something he may not even know himself) may never reveal itself to us. But that doesn’t matter too much, I think.

What stuck with me was the power of inception… beyond it, think what we as parents can do to our children by making them believe something as they are children: that they can realize their true potential, that they can make reach their goals… we are in a way planting those same seeds of an idea that were mentioned in the movie.

What did you think about Inception?

To Infinity and Beyond!

The theater in downtown Berkeley was half empty. Judging from this and the trailers we’d seen, we looked at each other slightly concerned.

Our concern went away very quickly. Starting with the usual Pixar short, titled Day & Night we were blown away. The short is hard to describe because of its simplicity: it consists of two characters (“Day” and “Night”) that walk through the screen and see in their “transparent” bodies the world they are living in projected (I hope this description makes SOME sense).

The brilliant and thought-provoking short led to a classic Toy Story-style opening, that quickly got us hooked. The glasses sure help the delivery but the movie hardly seems to force any “3-D kung-fu” moves that have become such a staple lately.

But in the midst of the ever-improving animation, the story (written by Little Miss Sunshine’s Michael Arndt) continued to show why Pixar is one of the best studios out there. A whole slew of new characters get introduced in this movie and the bulk of it takes place in a new environment: a daycare where the main characters get played with (read abused) by a bunch of crazy toddlers.

I won’t give out much about the movie here. There is lots of laughs: the now-famous Spanish-talking Buzz Lightyear, resulting from a reboot of the figure in the movie, is hilarious! There is also lots of special moments that may make you shed a tear… I know someone who did.

I know the string of perfect reviews for Pixar movies has been broken. But I don’t care. The story and the delivery of the closing movie for the Toy Story series was amazing: it’s, simply put, the best movie they’ve put out since Finding Nemo.

What is left to do when each new album you put out as an artist is better than the last one? When it seems there’s nowhere else left to go, there’s heaven to reach out for Hammock, the musical duo made up of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, from Nashville, TN (yes, their studio did get affected by the recent floodings!)

Since 2004, I have been writing about them. But in 2010’s Chasing After Shadows…Living With the Ghosts, the eerie cover showing floating bodies in water is carefully balanced with one of the most positively stimulating albums they have ever done. Very few vocal arrangements make their way into the sea of processed guitar sounds that lie at the heart of the Hammock sound. Their Sigur Ros influences can be felt here and there but their work is unmistakable and unique.

It’s hard (nearly impossible) to pick a favorite track: not only because the entire album is unbelievably great. But also because it has a unity to it, like the hand that moves the hair aside to let the light fall on the eyes that go with the smile… it’s simple but perfect, complex yet soothing, calming and elevating at the same time.

The best way for you to experience Hammock is to listen to it. Watch the video for the track “Breathturn” to get a feel for how these guys sound…

Hammock – Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

Uno de los “highlights” del viaje a Venezuela que hicimos en diciembre fue descubrir (gracias a Felix, de la banda CharliePapa) a Los Paranoias.

De su canal de YouTube:
“Formados en Caracas a finales de 2001 por los hermanos Luis Irán (voz-guitarra) y Carlos Da Palma (bajo y coros), actualmente cuentan con Yunior Lobo en la batería e Iván Gozon en la guitarra. Han compartido tarima con artistas de la talla de R.E.M., Travis, Jethro Tull, The Alan Parsons Project, Los Bunkers, Los Pericos, Los Rabanes, King Changó, Los Amigos Invisibles, El Gran Silencio, Desorden Público, Caramelos de Cianuro y Papashanty Soundsystem, entre otros…”

Este grupo suena simplemente BRUTAL! Si se imaginan que saldria mezclando una dosis saludable de Sentimiento Muerto con Soda Stereo y un par de cucharadas soperas de los Beatles, pueden aproximarse al sonido de Los Paranoias. Pero como no puede uno hacerle justicia a un trabajo discografico con descripciones escritas casi nunca, los invito a que escuchen el ultimo album por cortesia de Lala. Para quienes se encuentran fuera de Estados Unidos, pueden escucharlos tambien en la pagina Facebook de la banda.

Mi tema favorito: “Acetaminofen”. Disfruten!

Great starting point to make sense of viral business growth

Adam Penenberg first entered my radar in 2008, when an interview he wrote about Gina Bianchini (co-founder of Ning, a platform that lets you create your own social network) was published in Fast Company. In it, he also interviewed Marc Andreessen and introduced the rest of us to viral loops, showing how Ning was growing virally by virtue of a “double viral loop”: every social network creator is a user and every user is a potential network creator. At the time of this review, there are nearly 2 million social networks on Ning.

Penenberg breaks down Viral Loop in three parts: Viral Businesses, Viral Marketing and Viral Network. In the first part, he walks the reader from the original viral models (Tupperware and Ponzi schemes); through a fascinating story of the first online expansion viral loop which led to the introduction of Andreessen’s Mosaic and, later, Netscape too; and wraps up with a detailed explanation of Ning, how it accomplishes its viral growth and the elements (technical and cultural) that make viral businesses possible.

The Viral Marketing part, shares stories of Hotmail and the Diet Coke-Mentos Geysers video among others, giving interesting insights into accomplishing viral growth through marketing. The Viral Networks part takes up almost half the book. It dedicates individual chapters to the most successful networks that grew virally: I only wish he had dedicated more space to discussing Twitter.

It was very interesting to read how initial stiff competition between PayPal and eBay (two of the companies covered) resulted in the latter buying the PayPal (dubbed as “the first stackable network” by Penenberg), after eBay attempted to go against them with their own flavor of the service. Viral Loop closes leaving the door open to the future, discussing the search for a new ad unit to adequately fit the new space of viral networks and privacy matters in this new era.

Although I felt there was a missed opportunity to discuss more in depth about the importance of interactions between users (there seemed to be more emphasis on just number of users alone), if you want to understand of how companies like Ning, Facebook and Paypal have grown virally, this is a great starting point. Another title I recommend in connection with this one is Sarah Lacy’s Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0, another great title that complements Penenberg’s book very nicely.

I just finished reading Dan Zarrella’s book and I am very impressed. If you are new to the world of social media or wondering how to make it fit your marketing strategy, this book is a perfect starting point. Dan lays out all the dimensions of social media in an easy-to-understand way, outlining the do’s and don’t’s for each of them. It doesn’t pretend to be a Bible of the topic: for in-depth tactics for each leg of your social media marketing strategy, you will need to pick up other titles. But The Social Media Marketing Book gives you a very complete feel for what lies ahead, should you want to market your brand through social media, something that you will soon realize not to be an option but a must.

Last night, one great friend invited us to see The Swell Season at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Not only was the venue amazing but the concert blew us away!

They played with The Frames (Glen’s original band). Here’s a Frames track that Swell Season also played in their debut album, so you may get a feel for what we experienced.

Constantly wondering whether we will see a new album from Peter any time soon (or ever, again), here is my favorite Peter Gabriel song, from his 2003 Growing Up tour:

Que genial que este album de Ruben este disponible primero en LaLa que en Amazon y en iTunes! Increible trabajo… como siempre. Para muestra, una cancion. Escuchen “Las Calles” dandole al boton de PLAY en este post:
“La vida y la muerte bailan con la cerveza en la mano!”